Newton observes that gesture and demeanor in God's wor- sliip, though not everything, are something,
[And said, Father, the hour is come.'] The " hour ** here named is the hour appointed in God's eternal counsels for the sacrifice of the death of Christ, and the final accomplishment of His atonement. That time, wliich had been promised by God, and expected by saints for 4000 years, ever since Adam's fall, had at length arrived ; and the seed of the woman was actually about to bruise the serpent's head, by dying as man's Substitute and Redeemer. Up to tliis night " the hour was not yet come " (John vii. 30 ; viii. 20) ; and till it had come, our Lord's enemies could not hurt Him. Now, at last, the hour had come, and the Sacrifice was ready.
Augustine says here, " Time did not force Christ to die, but Christ chose a time to die. So also the time at which He was born of the Virgin He settled with the Father, of whom He was begotten without time."
Let us remember, though in a far lower sense, that believers are all immortal till their hour is come ; and till then they are safe, and cannot be harmed by death.
Let us note how our Lord addresses God as " Father." In a lower sense we may do the same, if we have the Spirit of adop- tion, and are His children in Christ. The Lord's prayer teaches us to do so.
It is worth notice that our Lord uses the phrase " Father" six times in this one prayer.
[Glorify Thy Son. ..glorify Thee.] I think the meaning of this sentence must be this : •' Give glory to Thy Son, by carry- ing Him through the cross and the grave, to a triumphant com- pletion of the work He came to do, and by placing him at Thy right hand, and highly exalting Him above every name that is named. Do this, in order that He may glorify Thee and Thy at- tributes. Do this, that He may bring fresh glory to Thy holiness, and justice, and mercy, and faithfulness, and prove to the world that Thou art a just God, a holy God, a merciful God, and a God that keepeth His word. My vicarious death and my resur- rection will prove this, and bring glory to Thee. Finish tlie mighty work. Glorify Me, and in so doing glorify Thyself. Finish Thy work, not least, that Thy Son may glorify Thee by bringing many redeemed souls to heaven, to the glory of Thy grace."
Stier remarks, " These words prove the Son is equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead. What creature could stand before his Creator, and say, * Glorify Me, that I may glorify Thee?'"
The glory of God and His attributes is the grand end of all creation, and of all God's arrangements and providences. No-
l^^ EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS.
tiling brings such glory to God as tlie completion of tlie re- deeming work of Christ, by His death, resurrection, and ascen- sion into heaven. Our Lord seems to me to ask that His death may at once take place, that He through death may be taken up to glory, and that there the justice, holiness, mercy, and faithfulness of the Father may be glorified and exhibited to all creation, and many souls be at once saved and glorify the Di- vine wisdom and power.
Augustine remarks, " Some take the Father's glorifying the Son to consist in this, — that He spared Him not, but delivered Him up for us all. But if He be said to be glorified by passion, how much more by resurrection? For in the passion it is more His humility than His glory that is shown forth, as the Apostle Bays in Phil. ii. 7 — 11."
2. — [As Thou hast given Him poicer, etc.] The Greek of part of this verse is peculiar, as it contains a nominative absolute ; and a literal translation seems impossible. It would be, " That with regard to all that body or thing which Thou hast given Him, He should give eternal life to thsm." There seems a distinc- tion between the whole body and the particular individual mem- bers. The body is given to Christ, in the mass, from all eterni- ty. The members of that body are called in time, separately and one by one, and eternal life given to them.
There certainly seems a connection between this verse and the concluding clause of the preceding verse. " Let Thy Son glorify Thee by saving souls, even as Thou hast appointed He should do, seeing that Thou hast given Him power and authori- ty over all flesh, to give eternal life to all the members of that mystical body which Thou hast given Him."
When we read here of " the Father giving power to the Son," •we must carefully remember that it is not the giving of a supe- rior to an inferior. It signifies that arrangement in the coun- sels of the eternal Trinity, by which the Father gives to the Son especially the carrying out of the work of redemption. Newton thinks the " power" includes the dignity of judgment at the last day, as in John v. 22.
The expression "all flesh" seems to me, as it does to Augus- tine, BuUinger, Newton, and others, to denote all mankind. All are not saved, but Christ has power and authority over all. Some confine it to the " elect," but I cannot see the force of their argument. To my eyes i.t is like John iii. 16, where " world " and " believers " are in contradistinction. So it seems here, " all flesh " and " given ones."
Chrysostom thinks that the phrase " all flesh " had special reference to the calling of the Gentiles into the Church ; and that our Lord meant that henceforward He was to be " Saviour of Gentiles as well as Jews."